Eyes on EN for the full dressage report coming soon. Rest assured, Tilly is typing her fingers down to bloody stumps as we speak, aided by Sally and hindered by Chinch, who’s (probably) napping off a day spent schmoozing his way round the Pol Roger tent. It’s a mammoth task so patience, please, while they pull off the impossible. It’ll drop just as soon as super-humanly possible.
Until then, here’s a quick re-cap of what the scores look like as we head into tomorrow’s cross country:
1️⃣ 🇬🇧 In pole position as the best day beckons is Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent who are sitting just 0.4 ahead of the defending champions on a score of 22.
2️⃣ 🇬🇧 Chasing them down is Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo who are on a score of 22.4.
3️⃣ 🇳🇿 Less than a point behind, rounding out the top three after the first phase is Tim Price and Vitali on a score of 23.1.
You’ll find the full scoreboard right here.
But scores aside, eventing at heart really isn’t just a numbers game (apologies to our friends at EquiRatings for that bold declaration, although as fellow eventing superfans, we think they’ll secretly agree). Here’s a run-down of some of the other points of interest from today’s dressage at Burghley threw our way today:
🎇 Fireworks Fizzled – We had explosive potential in today’s line up, with known firecrackers Icarus X and Finduss PFB in the mix. However, despite a smidge of looky-looky, joggy-joggy, determined side eye at the judges, both Emma Thomas and Sammi Birch did masterful jobs of using their partnership with their horses to keep things under wraps. Emma’s face went from super serious to huge grin as she saluted, with happy tears and huge neck scratchies for Icarus for their score of 37.3. Sammi was equally pleased with Finduss, saying “We learn about him all the time… Maybe when he’s 20 we’ll be on a 25!”. Today they scored 35.7. Another pair we watched with our breath held was Jesse Campbell and Cooley Lafitte, due to their tricky time in the first phase at Badminton. “Good boy,” Jesse whispered on the way out of the ring after a much improved test from them saw them land on 34.6.
📸 Picture of the Day – This surely goes to Alice Casburn for the look of pure disbelief on her face when she saw the scoreboard at the end of her test with family fave Topspin. “I looked up at the score and was like, Oh wow!” she tearfully said in her interview. They’re on 31.4.
🧑🎤 Woah Boy! Tom Crisp’s expression went from cool, calm and collected to OMG! in 0.1 of a second as Dassett Rockstar took the final salute as his cue to take off towards the cross country. Rockstar vibes all round for this pair as they put down a huge PB, with Tom pointing up to the scoreboard as he left the ring. “I like defying the odds,” he said afterwards. A first sub-30 at 5* for them – 28.5.
🫶 Sweet Story – Cool Jack and Alexander Tordoff may be making their 5* debut but they’ve been to Burghley before – for a Pony Club one-day event. Alex looked a little disappointed with his score but actually, cantering down the centre line at Burghley’s pinnacle event, that’s totally a win in itself. They scored 41.7.
🥃 Cheers Mate! The two Jacks were having a proper chat as they jogged out of the ring on the lookout for the cross country fences, the Burghley sun shining on the checkerboard adorning Jack Daniels’ bum while Jack Mantel talked to his pal the whole way out. They put down a score of 38.
👏 Biggest Cheer – Tim Price and Vitali for sure scored the biggest cheer of the day for a test that was justly appreciated by the crowd with clapping, cheers, whistles and waving flags. Vitali’s happy ears were surely a highlight of their test. 9s in the harmony marks for them and a score of 23.4.
😁 Funny Guy – Sam Lissington’s Lord Seekonig gave the crowd something to giggle about as he flicked his top lip and grinned at them on the way out of the ring, clearly pleased with his score of 24.
🐴 Fun Fact – William Fox-Pitt rode Emily King’s horse Valmy Biats at Novice level but struggled to gel with the gelding, which just goes to show how there’s different people for different horses no matter how talented a rider you are. Emily and Valmy sit on a score of 26.1.
🏆 Sporting Hero – The sportsmanship award goes to Arthur Marx who not only gave his homebred pal Church’ile a huge hug and a munch of grass after their test but also wished Austin O’Connor luck as he rode past on the way to start his with Colorado Blue. That’s exactly what we like to see. He scored 36.2.
😊 Mind Your Manners – Tara Dixon smiled and seemed to say good morning to the camera operators around the ring as she waited for the bell before her test. After a sweet test from both horse and rider she let us in on her plan for tomorrow: “Out of the start box – stay attached over the first couple – then let him run”. They start their 5* debut off on a score of 37.5.
⭐ Winning at Burghley – Another pair of 5* rookies, Elspeth Bryce and Lacoste made a lovely picture of a pair trying their best together. The horse was super relaxed and looked like he was smiling on his way out of the ring. Really, that’s winning at Burghley. They scored 39.9.
🐶 Man’s Best Friend – And finally, there was a four-legged addition to the commentary team this afternoon when one of William Fox-Pitt’s wolfpack joined in with the action. On a leash, of course.
Keep it locked onto EN for the full report coming your way and join me tomorrow for EN’s classic live blog, where I’ll be bringing you every single scrap of the cross country action. Ice those fingers ready for a day of refreshing ENers. It’s going to be a good one.
It all kicks off at 11am BST / 6am ET.
Until then…
Go eventing!
Many thanks to Kentucky Performance Products for their support of our Defender Burghley coverage! Click here to learn all about their science-backed and time-tested nutritional support products for horses.
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